The benefits of using a patch or mask device comprising skin agents to cosmetically treat the skin, have been recognized in the art. A variety of cosmetic patches or devices are commercially marketed or described as being useful for the delivery of skin actives. Patches have also been described in the literature and marketed in the medical field as a useful means for the transdermal administration of drugs.
However, many patches or devices suffer drawbacks which include ineffective release of the active ingredients to the skin. Other patches are dry, rough, and inflexible and thus are tight and uncomfortable to wear. Many existing cosmetic patches typically comprise flat two dimensional substrates. These substrates remain in this inflexible configuration during wear and do not conform well to three dimensional surfaces of the skin. Existing patches are not able to conform as the facial skin flexes and changes during movement and changing facial expressions. Thus in this dynamic environment, these patches often do not conform well to the contours of the skin surface to which they are applied. Gaps between the skin surface and the patch may form or the patch may simply be uncomfortable to wear especially for long periods of time. Thus many patches have undesirable in-use characteristics.
Certain beauty care patch systems comprise an active contained in a reservoir in which the active is present in solid, liquid or dissolved form. These systems may also have a layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive by which the system can be brought into close contact with the skin. These systems are limited when the active does not diffuse through the reservoir or adhesive layer, when a chemical reaction occurs between the active and the reservoir material or adhesive, or when the active is insoluble or only poorly soluble in the reservoir or adhesive.
Thus an improved multilayered beauty care product is provided. The product comprises a soluble film zone containing the active agent and a water soluble film forming polymer. In an aspect as the soluble film forming polymer dissolves, the active is released. The soluble film zone or polymer or product provides a dynamic modulus wherein the modulus decreases during use of the product to improve the comfort and conformability around the curved surfaces of the skin, even in a low water environment. Thus the comfort of the product improves during wear. The product also comprises a pressure sensitive adhesive that is substantially separate from the active ingredients so that any interaction between the two is minimized.